Professor Robert Regan of the University of Pennsylvania's English Department will speak about Mark Twain's view of art in a talk titled "The Art Ignoramus and the Art Snob: Mark Twain and John Ruskin."

Professor Regan is the spring's Distinguished Academic Visitor at the Center.  He has publsihed widely on mark Twain and other American authors.  His principal work is Uncompromising Heroes: Mark Twain and his Characters, published by the University of California Press.  Professor Regan is a former managing editor of American Quarterly, the journal of the American Studies Association, and has been visiting lecturers in various French, British, North African, and Middle Eastern universities. In addition to his public talk, he will also be giving guest classes in Elmira College courses in American Studies and American literature.